Always on
This project successfully funded on 1st July 2022, you can still support them with a donation.
Support the King's Theatre, Edinburgh
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
£42,181
raised so far
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First target reached!
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Aim
Join us for the final act! By giving today, you can help us return the magic of live theatre to our 'Grand Old Lady of Leven Street'.
The 120-year-old King’s Theatre Edinburgh closed its doors at the end of August 2022 to prepare for an urgent redevelopment. Affectionately known as ‘the people’s theatre’ for its warm and welcoming nature and its popular programme, the venue was no longer fit for purpose either for performance companies or audiences.
This summer, the King's will reopen its doors to audiences for the first time and we want to ensure that when it does it will be a world-class theatre for all.
Thanks to the amazing support of so many wonderful people who love the King’s, as well as significant grants and donations from the City of Edinburgh Council, the Scottish Government, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and the UK Government, plus trusts and foundations and companies, we have just £250,000 to raise - can you help us to complete the transformation of the King's Theatre?
The King’s Theatre Edinburgh opened on the 8 December 1906. Standing proudly on the corner of Leven Street and Tarvit Street, the King’s is one of Scotland’s oldest theatres and the only surviving operational Edwardian theatre by the architects Swanston and Davidson.
For over a century, audiences have laughed, shed a tear, held their breath, and risen to their feet. Noel Coward premiered 'Private Lives' here. Maria Callas sang here. A young Sean Connery worked backstage here. And every winter, generation after generation of families have revelled in the pantomime here. Often it's a child's first encounter with the magic, that only live theatre can conjure.
"I grew up in the Tollcross neighbourhood and had many a school trip to the King's, particularly to see pantos at Christmas. It was my favourite time of the year and even now, the King's building itself makes me think of home and being an excited kid with a bag of sweets, waiting for the curtain to go up." Arusa Qureshi, writer and programmer.
Thanks to the generosity of wonderful supporters like you, new bars and a cafe have been added, a new learning and community space has been brought to life, a new level stage has been installed, and the fly tower has been raised to better host the ever-more expansive scenery.
And who could forget the steep climb to seats in the upper levels. The journey is so much easier and more accessible now with with the installation of beautiful new stairwells and two large new lifts. The King's is now step free from pavement to seat for the very first time in the theatre's 120-year-old history, and that goes for performers too.
This is a once in a generation transformation, but it's a transformation we need your help to complete.
We are on the final twists and turns of this extraordinary journey. The King's Theatre has survived wars, economic hardship and the ravages of time. It has staged some of the most joyful, moving and memorable nights with the biggest names Edinburgh has ever known.
"From the first visit I felt the magic. There is an atmosphere in the King's that I've never encountered in any other theatre in the world." Angela Harkness Robertson, audience member and workshop participant.
It truly is a theatre for everyone, providing audiences with a varied programme ranging from opera to drama to pantomime, and now, with the newly level stage, dance, physical theatre and circus.
Curtain up is just two months away and we cannot do it without you.
There are still finishing touches to be made to the spaces that are so uniquely 'King's' such as restoring the woodwork and decorative plasterwork. With your support this summer will mark the beginning of a new chapter for the King's, a theatre fit for the next 100 years, open and accessible to everyone, and ready to bring people and communities together once more.
Please give as much as you can today to raise the curtain on the details that will steal the show by visiting the King's Future webpage
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made